The bye week could not have come at a better time for Mississippi State.

The Bulldogs had a rough and unexpected 1-4 record to start the season. Head coach Sylvester Croom spent the bye week working out some of his underclassmen as well as healing up some wounds before entering back in conference play with Vanderbilt next Saturday.

"The bye week came at a good time for us," Croom said. "We will get a chance to look at some of our younger players and give some of our guys who have been nicked up and bruised up some rest and get them healthy before we play Vanderbilt next week."

After sometimes painful offensive showings, the MSU offense finally showed some glimmers of hope in a 34-24 loss to LSU in Baton Rouge this past weekend. The Bulldogs racked up 285 yards of total offense but more importantly scored in all three of its tries in the red zone.

"Anytime things go well there is a boost in confidence," Croom said. "We haven't had very many things go well for us offensively this season. We've had a lot of injuries but things are starting to come together. (Derek) Sherrod had his best game and that is something you take for granted. Your left tackle missed three weeks of training camp and loses 10-15 pounds and that has hurt our running game and hurt our passing game. But now our starting five guys are starting to come together a little bit and have some continuity there working and playing together. I think they are starting to get some confidence and playing with stability now."

State picked up 175 yards through the air against the Tigers as well as chewing up 110 yards on the ground against one of the stingiest defenses in the country.